Chapter 121: Not Allowed to Speak Up About Cheating?

In fact, everyone overlooked one point because Class 12 consistently ranked at the bottom overall: at their school, classes were assigned based on grades only from Class 1 to Class 11. Class 12 was more of a gathering place for children of the elite. Ordinary students with less-than-stellar grades didn’t want to be there; they could easily choose Class 11 instead.

Originally, it wasn’t that Huo Shuyue and the others forced things, but rather Shi Xuetong had proactively joined Class 12 herself. If she wanted to leave Class 12, she could simply say so—no one would stop her. Yet, she posted a misleading recording on Weibo, putting on a pitiful act to garner everyone’s sympathy, as if the students in Class 12 were forcing her to stay.

But the truth? From beginning to end, she simply didn’t want to bear the stigma of desertion at a critical moment and thus fabricated an excuse for herself.

That said, her ploy did have some effect. For instance, the girls in Class 11 now felt deeply sympathetic toward this ordinary, vulnerable girl like themselves. Several girls from Class 11 hurried over to comfort Shi Xuetong, who was still crying out of fear, and even helped move her desk and books to the neighboring classroom.

They had originally thought Shi Xuetong, who followed Huo Shuyue in the next class, was difficult to get along with. Now it seemed that was far from the case. They guessed she must often have been bullied, stuck among a group of privileged children. Probably, she had just snapped today, unwilling to have her future ruined.

Thinking this, the girls all looked at the few students in Class 12 with reproach but only dared to murmur quietly.

“Cheating is cheating. Collective cheating shouldn’t be allowed either, right?”

“Never thought Class 12 was full of people like that...”

Having said this quickly, the girls didn’t dare linger in Class 12 any longer. Linking arms with Shi Xuetong, they left together for Class 11 as if they had been sisters for years, not strangers who had just met.

Watching this scene, the students in Class 12 cast cold glances. Huo Shuyue sat at her desk, staring toward the door, her chest rising and falling heavily. Her hands clenched tightly around the test paper on the desk, veins bulging on her forehead.

In this state, even Xiao Yang felt a bit worried.

Putting himself in her shoes, he thought that if he were betrayed by someone he had always considered a close friend, he probably wouldn’t be able to maintain such composure as Huo Shuyue.

With that in mind, Xiao Yang stretched out his long legs and kicked Huo Shuyue’s chair casually. “What are you thinking about? Don’t tell me you’re actually sad for her? People like that deserve a beating—let’s teach her a lesson after school!”

Huo Shuyue immediately wiped the expression off her face and snapped angrily, “You’re the one who’s upset! She’s just a lackey. What’s there to be sad about? No need to wait until after school—I’ll block her in the bathroom right after class!”

“Oh really? That’s what you said—don’t say it if you won’t do it!”

“Who wouldn’t dare? How could I not dare!”

Just then, Gu Ci pulled out a stack of test papers from her backpack. Seeing Xiao Yang’s arrogant demeanor, Gu Ci raised an eyebrow, rolled the papers into a tube, and lightly tapped it on Xiao Yang’s head.

“Dare to do it? Then first, you’d better finish these tests.”

Instantly, the arrogance vanished from Xiao Yang’s face, which contorted into a grimace.

“Sis Ci, can’t we skip this? Isn’t it too early for this? Isn’t this a bit too harsh?”

Though he said this, he still reluctantly took the papers from Gu Ci’s hand, though his heart was clearly unwilling.

Seeing the dense words and symbols on the papers, Xiao Yang gasped, feeling his scalp tingle.

Gu Ci raised an eyebrow. “Not everything, huh? You mean one test paper is enough to stump you?”

Xiao Yang was immediately silenced. His hands flipped through the papers, trying to gauge how many brutal tests Gu Ci had prepared for him, but as he read on, his expression grew strange.

Huo Shuyue noticed and her first reaction was a bit of schadenfreude.

“Xiao Yang, how’s the test? Feeling great?”

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yang suddenly laughed, with a tone of inexplicable glee. “You’re right—it is pretty great!”

Now it was Huo Shuyue’s turn to be puzzled.

Seeing Xiao Yang’s sly expression, a sudden uneasy feeling gripped her heart.

Then Xiao Yang turned his head and tapped Gu Ci’s shoulder. “Sis Ci, are these papers going to be handed out to everyone in the class?”

Gu Ci nodded coldly. “Yes.”

Sheets of paper fluttered down lightly. Huo Shuyue gasped again, eyes wide, staring at the first test paper that Xiao Yang had placed on her desk. Now she finally understood where that bad premonition had come from...

Damn.

In just two minutes, Xiao Yang had distributed all the papers, sparing no one.

Glancing at the time, Gu Ci said, “It’s 7:05 now. Five minutes until morning self-study starts, plus 20 minutes of self-study, and a 5-minute break after. You all will work on this test.”

Today was another day dedicated to “sharing study materials,” or rather, promoting them.

The whole class groaned, but despite the complaints, everyone earnestly worked on the tests. No one chose to play on their phones or nap at this time.

It was as if today, without coordination, they had all decided to attend morning self-study, rather than arriving late as usual just before class.

After yesterday afternoon’s lesson, everyone now understood just how poor their math skills were. They had come today hoping to secretly study during morning self-study.

They didn’t know where to start, feeling overwhelmed, but Gu Ci’s test seemed to give them a clear direction for their efforts.

Those who couldn’t understand anything in math class found that they could actually comprehend some problems on this test!

They could solve the first few questions!

Of course, the further they progressed, the more difficult it became—but that was expected.

With the idea that if Huo Shuyue and Xiao Yang had to do it, then all 30 students would do it too, Gu Ci printed 30 copies at once.

Because Shi Xuetong switched classes last minute, the extra copy ended up in Gu Ci’s hands—quite a coincidence.

After everyone finished the test, Gu Ci immediately distributed the answers.

These answers were different from their usual answer sheets; they not only marked right and wrong but also included corresponding letters a through g and scores. They had to match the letters and scores according to the instructions to form a final “score” similar to a code.